To round off my GoodGym day following an earlier mission and training session, I hopped across to Hackney to meet the awesome Anne for a furniture-based mission this afternoon. She'd also done a mission this morning, so we were both doing a double! :D

For this mission, we were to meet Mr E to dismantle and remove a bed so that a hospital bed may replace it and his wife may be released home from hospital.

Well, imagine our surprise when we got there to discover that a family friend had managed to come along and had dismantled the bed before we’d even arrived! It was probably the fastest bed to be broken in GoodGym history as it was technically completely dismantled when we rang the doorbell at T=0. We thought “Ok, so just the dreaded carrying down the stairs to do”. However, following discussions with his wife, Mr E’s new plan was to dismantle another bed in the house and to reassemble the original bed in its place. So, in summary, we were to dismantle and take ouside one out of two beds and to reassemble the original mission bed in its place.

First order of business was to dismantle the other bed. After moving the mattress and several bags out of the room, we set to work with our Allen keys to break it apart. I normally have a set on me for my bike, so we were both able to work at this simultaneously. Even dismantling the bed at breakneck speed, the family friend was able to spirit away the parts as fast as we were able to unscrew them: I’m pretty sure it took us less than five minutes in total to break that bed apart and remove the components from the room!

Second order of business was to make space in the room to reassemble the original bed. This was also aided by the kind family friend, as we bagged up a large number of items left in the room by Mr E’s daughter (currently at University). This was probably the longest part of the entire operation.

Third order of business was to reassemble the original bed without making too many dodgy jokes about hex nuts, screws and why you may want your slats to be firmly held in position. This latter part was difficult, but at least the bed was simple to put together (aided by the original instructions no less!) I think Anne and I worked well together as she undertook the more dextrous aspects of assembly while I held things in position and acted as the furniture-building equivalent of a back seat driver (a back seat screwdriver, perhaps?!)

Bed built, we helped the family friend move the original mattress onto the reassembled original bed, and were surprised to discover that the bed we’d disassembled, including the mattress, had already been whisked away by the family friend! This meant that we hadn’t had to carry anything awkward down the stairs at all, which is probably a first for GoodGym furniture removal missions!

Mr E seemed very grateful for our help, as he has a lot to do in order to help ensure a safe environment for his wife to come home to. He hopes that she will be released as early as Wednesday and is looking forward to having her back with him. I hope that the rest of the preparation isn’t too stressful for him and that our help means that he’s able to find a few quiet moments over the next couple of days to look after himself 😄